Cable laying sheave



March 28, 1950 P. B. BENNER CABLE LAYING SHEAVE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 14, 1945 INVENTOR. 5. Bennar- BY ATTORNEY:

P. B. BENNER CABLE LAYING SHEAVE March 28, 1950 7 s Sheets-Sheet '2 Filed Dec. 14, 1945 INVENTOR.

MQ/E n .N & m T /WA u Fwy B March 28, 1950 P. B. BENNER CABLE LAYING SHEAVE 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Dec. 14, 19 5 INVENTOR. 1 BGHHGJ" ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 28, 1950 UNITED STATES FATE NT OF P lC'E 2,501,837 CABLE LAYING SHEAVE Paul B; Banner, Peoria, m, assignor to (laterpillar Tractor Co., San Leandro, Califl, a corporation of California Application December 14, 1945, SeriaI No. 6 34.991

4 Claims.

1. I v The present invention relates to cable laying sheaves and particularly to the construction and arrangement of sheaves employed for laying or directing. cables-as they are wound upon cable laying drums.

The inventionis. particularly adapted to use in. connection with control cables extending between a. draft implement, such as a tractor, and a. drawn. implement, such as an earth scraper or the like. andv will be disclosed herein in con nection with such use for purposes of illustration. It. will be: apparent from the disclosure, however, that the invention is not limited to the combination of equipment herein shown but is capable of general application in many fields.

It is conventional practice where cable is wound upon a drum or the like to provide a sheave for guiding the cable toward the drum.

The sheave is usually pivotally supported in av manner to permit it to follow the direction of the cable as. it progresses in winding from side to'sid'e of the drum, thus facilitat ng the orderly arrangement or laying of the individual. turns of the. cable on the surface of the} drum.

This invention is concerned. with such cable laying sheaves where a pair of closely spaced cables are both wound upon drums which are also closely spaced so that sheaves of conventional= design are incapableof. operation without interfering with each other.

It is, therefore, anobject of the present invention to provide a construction and arrangement for cable laying sheaves which will enable two sheaves to be mounted for operation in con junction with closely spaced cables and winding drums. Further and more specific objects and advantages of the invention are made apparent in the following specification where a typical application of the invention is disclosed in detail.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of the rear end of a tractor and the draft connection of a trailer or the like being drawn thereby illustrating the application of the present invention to control cables which extend between the tractor and the trailer;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Referring first to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the rear end of a tractor is illustrated as supported on wheels, one of which is shown at l 0, and which are supported on axles l I projecting from a the drawings of the present application.

. 2" tion. is indicated at l3.. A. draft connection H" of a trailer or similar. implement is shown a's connected. with the rear end of the tractor by a hitch generally indicated at i5. which. permits universal. movement between the tractor and the trailer and which includes a vertically disposed pivotal member l6 which, as shown in Fig. 2,. contains. a hollow king. bolt I! through which control cablesv I8' pass. The details of construction of the. hitch l5 are fully set forth in the. applicationof Carl A. Gustaf'scn for. Cable-lead, Serial No; 600,615 filed. J anuai'y 20,1945. In such. application the control cables are disclosed passing over closely spaced sheaves [9, supported in a bracket. 2.0 on the draft. connection l4, and. as passing downwardly through the hollow king bolt H, and then. under closely spaced sheaves 21 supported in brackets 22. One of. the purposes.- o-f the invention disclosed in. said application. is to permit free movement orthe drattconnection M about the kingbolt [1. without disarranging the cables t8. Thev cables lead to a cab e. control unit gene-ally ind cated at 23,v the. construction of which is fullydisclosed. in an applicat onof John. E. Jassy entitled Cable control unit, SeriatNo. 634,957, filed December 14, 1945. 'Iihis. cable control unit is secured to: the transmission. housing l2 from which a drive connectionind'icated in. GiGttGdi lines at 24-,.is taken for the operation of a pair of cable winding drums 25 individually controlled by levers 26 positioned for manipulation by the tractor operator in accordance with conventional pract ce. The cable winding. drums 25 are, for reasons fully set forth in said application entitled Cable control unit, closely spaced, as best shown in Fig. 2 of Because of the fact that the cables l8 are closely spaced in passing through the king bolt H and are wound upon closely spaced drums, ordinary arrangements of cable laying sheaves for guiding the cables as they are wound upon the drums are impractical.

The present invention, therefore, provides an arrangement of cable laying sheaves particularly adapted to the guiding of closely spaced cables as they are wound up on a pair of closely spaced drums which rotate about a common axis. The

transmission case 12. The trac o ope ators stacable laying sheaves of the present invention are shown at 21 as supported for rotation in conventional housings 28 provided with angularly disposed brackets 29 which, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 3, support trunnions 30 at their opposite ends.

A sheave supporting enclosure 31 is secured, as

by cap screws 32, to the top of the cable control unit and comprises a pair of vertically disposed walls 33 and 34 between which the sheaves are supported. The wall 33 carries bearing housings 35 containing bearings 33 for the trunnions at one end of the sheaves and the walls 34 carry bearing housings 3! which enclose bearings 38 for the trunnions 30 at the opposite ends of the sheaves. Bearing housings 31 are removably retained in the wall 34 by cap screws 39 to enable the sheaves to be assembled in place within the housing 3|.

Considering the guide plane of a sheaveto be that central plane in which the cable is disposed as it passes over the sheave and which is disposed midway between and parallel to the two sides of the sheave housing 28, the trunnions 30 about which the sheaves pivot are, as viewed in Fig. 2,'

offset with relation to the guide planes of the sheaves 21. Consequently, each of the sheaves 2! is supported for pivotal or swinging movement about its t'runnions in such a manner that when the sheaves swing toward each other the opposed faces of their housings may assume closely spaced parallel relationship for guiding the closely spaced cables [8 onto the drums 25. Therefore, in the event the winding drums are controlled in such a manner that both of the sheaves 21 are swung inwardly toward each other at the same time, there will be no contact or interference between the sheaves or between their pivotal supports which are widely spaced even though the sheaves are operable in closely spaced parallel planes.

. The use of conventional cable laying sheaves with the combination of closely spaced cables and winding drums herein disclosed would necessitate the use of an extra pair of sheaves interposed between the guide sheaves 2| and the cable laying sheaves 21 in order to spread the cables for reception by the cable laying sheaves. The present invention, therefore, not only eliminates the necessity of an additional pair of guide sheaves but provides cable laying sheaves which are rigidly supported and freely pivotable throughout the full range necessary to their properQfunction of guiding the cables as they are wound upon the drums.

" I-claim:

1. In combination with a pair of closely spaced cable winding drums and a pair of closely spaced cables to be wound upon said drums, a pair of cable laying sheaves associated with said drums and cables, and pivotal supports for said sheaves offset with relation to the guide plane 01 the sheaves to enable them to swing to and from a position of adjacent parallelism.

2. In combination with a pair of cable winding drums rotatable 'on a common axis with closely spaced adjacent ends, a pair of guide sheaves for laying cable on said drums, and individual pivotal supports for said sheaves offset with relation to the guide plane of the sheaves to enable them to swing to a position for laying cables on the adjacent ends of said drums.

3. In combination with a tractor and an implement drawn thereby, a pair of control cables leading from the implement to the tractor, a cable control unit on the tractor including a pair of cable winding drums disposed end to end on a common axis, a pair of cable laying sheaves adjacent said drums, and a pivotal support for each of said sheaves ofiset with relation to the guide plane of the sheaves.

4. In combination with a cable control unit which comprises a pair of closely spaced cable winding drums, a sheave supporting enclosure secured to said unit, and a pair of cable laying sheaves mounted for pivotal movement about bearings disposed within said enclosure, said bearings being offset with relation to the guide planes of the sheaves.

PAUL B. BENNER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 723,823 Adams May 26, 1903 1,883,172 Minor Nov. 24, 1931 2,103,541 Low Dec. 28, 1937 2,216,263 Clark Oct. 1, 1940 2,272,917 Lawler Feb. 10, 1942 2,366,433 Bridwell et a1 Jan. 2, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 3,334 Great Britain of 1900 

